Your Right to Know: Ultraprocessed Foods 101
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What's the difference between processed and ultraprocessed food?
Most types of food processing help make food safer or more convenient — like pasteurizing milk or freezing vegetables. Ultraprocessing is different. It typically involves breaking foods down into isolated components and recombining them using specialized industrial methods. Industrial ingredients and additives trigger cravings and override natural satiety signals while increasing profits for UPF manufacturers.
Isn't it obvious which foods are ultraprocessed?
Not necessarily. While some UPFs are obvious – like soft drinks or instant noodles – others masquerade as healthy choices. In Western countries, UPFs now make up over 50% of total daily calorie intake. If the ingredient list is long and includes items you wouldn't find in a home kitchen, it's likely ultraprocessed. Additionally, the Non-UPF Verified program considers the extent and intensity of processing — information that isn't apparent from product packaging alone.
Are the 'healthy' foods you buy secretly ultra-processed?
They could be. Many products marketed as healthy are among the most highly processed foods available. Plant-based meat alternatives, protein bars, breakfast cereals and "low-fat" or "sugar-free" products often contain numerous industrial ingredients. Even products labeled "natural" can be ultraprocessed. Marketing terms like "whole grain," "all natural" or "no artificial flavors" don't tell the whole story about how processed a food really is.
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How UPFs impact your body and brain
The global shift to ultra-processed foods has triggered an unprecedented health crisis. Diet is now the leading cause of death worldwide, with UPFs as a primary driver. UPFs are now definitively linked to our most common and severe diseases: heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. But the damage goes far beyond these familiar concerns. UPFs disrupt hormones, leading to infertility and reproductive disorders. They have a devastating impact on sleep quality, compromise immune function, and fuel chronic inflammation throughout the body. These foods are also linked to autoimmune conditions, digestive disorders, and skin problems that many people don't realize stem from their diet.
Even more alarming is their impact on the brain. UPFs literally alter brain structure and function, shrinking the hippocampus (our memory center) and disrupting neural pathways. Studies show that high UPF consumption increases risk of cognitive decline by 28% and accelerates brain aging. These effects are particularly concerning for children and adolescents, whose developing brains are especially vulnerable to nutritional stressors.
The connection between food and wellbeing
Research has established clear links between diet quality and mental health outcomes. Multiple large-scale studies show that people who eat primarily whole foods have a 25-35% lower risk of depression than those consuming mostly ultraprocessed foods. The mechanism is biological: whole foods provide essential nutrients required for neurotransmitter production and proper brain function, while UPFs can disrupt the gut-brain axis, a key pathway in mental health. This disruption affects mood regulation, stress response, and cognitive function. Clinical studies consistently demonstrate that improving diet quality, particularly by reducing UPF consumption, can lead to measurable improvements in mental health outcomes.
Why are UPFs so addictive?
Many ultraprocessed foods are scientifically engineered to override your body's natural appetite controls. They often deliver precisely calibrated combinations of sugar, salt, and fat that trigger intense pleasure responses in the brain, similar to addictive drugs. Their highly refined ingredients bypass normal digestive signals, leading to overconsumption before you feel full. This didn’t originate by accident, and the story of how our food system became so deliberately addictive is one of the most troubling chapters in modern food history.
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How did our food get this way?
It's no coincidence that ultraprocessed foods can hook us like cigarettes - the original UPFs were engineered by the same addiction scientists. When Big Tobacco bought up food companies in the 1980s, they applied their expertise in creating irresistible products. The result? Foods precisely designed to trigger dopamine responses similar to addictive drugs, using exact combinations of sugar, salt, and fat that maximize cravings. These foods break down and absorb so quickly that your body's "full" signals can't keep up, while industrial additives are specifically designed to keep you coming back for more. Over time, the application and purpose of ultraprocessing has evolved and expanded, and not all things that might be considered UPF are high in sugar, salt and fat. In the rapidly evolving food landscape, there is a need to bring more clarity to what exactly is and isn’t ultraprocessed.
How does choosing real food heal more than just your body?
When you choose minimally processed whole foods instead of UPFs, you're not just supporting your physical health - you're protecting your brain's capacity to think clearly and make good decisions. Research shows that people who primarily eat whole foods have better emotional regulation, sharper cognitive function, and greater capacity for complex problem-solving. This creates a positive feedback loop: better food choices enable better thinking, which in turn supports better choices across all areas of life. Additionally, choosing real food helps heal our relationship with the natural world. When we eat food that's closer to its natural state, we develop a deeper appreciation for the intricate web of life that sustains us.
Breaking the cycle: How better food enables better decisions
UPFs can impair the very brain functions we need to make healthy choices, creating a destructive cycle. But this works in reverse too: reducing UPF consumption improves mood stability, mental clarity, and impulse control. Studies show even small reductions in UPFs can lead to measurable improvements in decision-making capacity within weeks. Better food enables better choices, creating an upward spiral of wellbeing.
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How can I avoid UPF?
Start by focusing on whole, minimally processed foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes when possible. When buying packaged foods, read ingredient lists carefully – if they're long or contain unfamiliar industrial ingredients, it's likely ultraprocessed. Look for the Non-UPF Verified mark, which appears on store shelves this spring.
Reading labels: What to look for
Industrial ingredients hide behind familiar-sounding names, while others that sound artificial might actually be minimally processed. Key red flags include modified starches, protein isolates, emulsifiers and artificial sweeteners. But the complexity of modern food processing means even savvy shoppers can find it difficult to consistently identify UPFs — Non-UPF Verified was developed for exactly this reason.
Making the transition: Simple steps to start
In today's busy world, most of us need convenient food options – and that's okay. Start where you can: replace the most obvious UPFs in your diet with minimally processed alternatives. When time allows, prepare simple meals from basic ingredients. When you need convenience foods (and we all do), look for products with ingredients you recognize. Every small change matters, and you shouldn't feel guilty about needing practical solutions for your real life.
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The modern food system has made it nearly impossible for even savvy consumers to consistently identify ultraprocessed foods. Non-UPF Verified provides a clear, science-based standard to empower informed choices. This groundbreaking verification ensures foods meet rigorous criteria for minimal and moderate processing, supporting cognitive function and metabolic nourishment. By verifying truly nourishing options, we aim to make the healthier choice the easier choice — for everyone.
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While individual food choices matter, the challenges of UPFs can't be solved through consumer action alone. We need systematic changes that make truly nourishing food more accessible to everyone. The Non-UPF Verified program helps create market clarity and support food manufacturers to produce less processed options, making it easier for all of us to choose foods that support human and planetary wellbeing.
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The stakes couldn’t be higher. Ultraprocessed foods are not just a personal health issue — they erode the cognitive and emotional foundations necessary for making decisions that affect not only ourselves but the entire living world. By reducing reliance on UPFs, we protect our brains, enhance emotional resilience, and create an upward spiral of wellbeing that reaches every part of life. This is about more than food. It’s about reclaiming the capacity to think clearly, act compassionately, and participate fully in the interconnected web of life.
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Launched by the Non-GMO Project under the umbrella of our Food Integrity Collective, Non-UPF Verified is a continuation of our non-profit organization's commitment to informed choice in service of a food system that nourishes life. When we began our work on GMOs in 2007, many said building and protecting a non-GMO supply chain was impossible. Today, the Non-GMO Project’s Butterfly is one of the most trusted food labels in the world, representing more than 63,000 verified products and $47 billion in annual sales.
With Non-UPF Verified, we’re tackling an even deeper challenge. The science is clear: ultraprocessed foods not only threaten human health and cognition but also undermine the very foundations of thriving ecosystems. Just as we successfully brought stakeholders together to transform the marketplace around GMOs, we're now inviting shoppers, brands, retailers and health care practitioners to join us in reimagining what's possible when it comes to how our food is processed. Our new program brings clarity to a complex issue, setting a rigorous yet achievable standard for metabolically nourishing foods.
As we’ve always said: Together we can protect a safe, healthy food supply for future generations.
How We Use AI
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We use AI in two key ways.
Developing the Standard — We used a custom AI tool to pressure-test and refine the requirements laid out in the Non-UPF Verified Standard. This helped us find the sweet spot between meaningfulness (delivering a genuine benefit for shoppers that aligns with their expectations) and achievability (ensuring the requirements were realistic for manufacturers). That balance is foundational to the program's potential to shift the food supply toward minimally processed foods.
Pre-verification screening — Now that the program is in open enrollment, AI serves as a pre-verification screening tool. If brands are curious about the program, they can connect with our team and complete a basic assessment using on-package information to get a clearer picture of what documentation they'd need to complete verification, or whether certain ingredients in their product formulation need to be replaced — all without a major investment of time or money.
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AI is a valuable tool, but it has limitations — and being transparent about both AI use and its limits is an important step toward rebuilding trust with shoppers and eaters.
AI can't evaluate manufacturing intent. This is one of the most significant gaps. The same ingredient can serve very different purposes: for example, a gum might be used to ensure even nutrient distribution in a fortified beverage, or it might be used to mimic the creaminess of a whole food with no nutritional benefit. AI sees the ingredient, not the "why" behind it. That distinction is central to UPF assessment, and it requires human judgment.
AI has no sensory experience. Product formulation and reformulation are ultimately human endeavors. AI can flag parts of a formulation that may not align with the Standard and jumpstart the conversation, but it can't guide the process of actually fixing it. Ultimately, food is created, shared and enjoyed by people.
AI's benefits depend on the surrounding system. Pre-verification screening only improves accessibility and transparency if the Standard is publicly available and the relationships between brands and program staff are handled by people.
AI is a useful starting point in certification, not a substitute for human knowledge and expertise.
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For brands, pre-verification screening helps smooth the pathway to verification. Brands arrive better prepared, which makes the human review process more focused and efficient — a better use of everyone's time and resources.
For shoppers, the benefit of a streamlined pre-verification screening is more Non-UPF Verified products on shelf and, ultimately, a market shift toward less-processed foods. Using AI-assisted tools early in the verification process helps brands efficiently meet a rigorous standard. That balance of rigor and accessibility is what inspires real change: brands motivated and equipped to meet a high bar will reformulate to earn it.
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Reach out to our team for an optional, AI-assisted pre-verification screening
Select a Technical Administrator (TA)
Sign a license agreement
Evaluation (i.e., submitting product information and completing program affidavits)
Verification
Annual renewal
For more information on the verification process, see the Non-UPF Verified Brand Starter Guide.
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Before enrolling in the program, brands can complete an AI-assisted pre-screening with our team. This helps identify any formulation areas that may need extra attention before verification, so you arrive prepared for the process.
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Yes. The AI tools we use are designed by people, and the results are assessed and communicated to brands by people. Pre-verification screening results are reviewed by our team, who evaluate them in context before any feedback reaches a brand. Those interactions also help us refine the rules and parameters we give the AI tool over time — improving its accuracy and deepening our own understanding of the non-UPF landscape.
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The AI tools used in pre-verification screening analyze on-package information: product name, brand name, ingredient list, and nutritional information. This gives Technical Administrators an informed starting point, freeing them to focus their expertise where it matters most — assessing processing methods and intensity, which requires human judgment and experience.
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No. A rigorous certification requires reviewing manufacturing documentation, ingredient sourcing, and production practices — not just label data. Without access to that information, we don't believe it is possible to credibly verify whether a food is ultraprocessed. AI contributes to the process; it doesn't determine the outcome.
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Our mission is to empower people to care for themselves, the planet, and future generations. Those commitments, and our core belief that food should nourish life, shape how we approach every tool we use, including AI.
We use AI to augment human work, not replace it; to deepen our understanding and grow our capacity to make positive change. The goal is to make our team's expertise more effective and our program more accessible to brands, not to automate or cut corners. Where AI analyzes and contributes, humans ideate and decide.
We're also clear-eyed about the fact that AI is not a neutral technology. Its development and environmental footprint have significant impacts — as does its potential to either enhance or diminish human potential. That's why we think carefully about where AI adds genuine value and where it doesn't belong.
We are committed to continually evaluating our use of AI as the technology, and our understanding of it, evolves.